Page 31 of Beyond the Badge: Nox

“Jamison isn’t only my supervisor, he’s also the president of my MC.”

Her eyes widened and he knew the exact moment she put two and two together. “Holy shit! You’re a member of the Blue Avengers?”

Nox tipped his head in answer. “Aiden Cross is also one of my MC brothers.”

“That’s right! He’s the cop who married Nash from the Dirty Angels.”

“He is.”

“Talk about opposites attract…”

Her father’s relationship hadn’t been the only one controversial, so had Cross and Nash’s. They hid it for a while. Not only because Cross had been in the closet at the time, but Nash had been hiding his bisexuality from his MC. Neither knew if they’d be accepted by their peers. Cross by his brothers in blue and Nash by his MC brotherhood.

“Damn,” she whispered. “How crazy is that? Our lives touch and we didn’t even know it.”

“Six degrees of separation, I guess.”

“It’s not even six degrees. It’s…” She shook her head. “How did our paths never cross before?”

They might have and he just hadn’t been paying attention. Once he met Jackie, unless he was dealing with one in his capacity as a police officer, he really didn’t notice other women. He had no reason to.

Jackie had been his everything.

“Speaking of opposites… Your father is the enforcer for an outlaw club, but your husband was a cop.”

“He was. But Mark died before my father and I repaired our relationship.”

“Did he mind you being with a cop? That your son’s father was law enforcement?”

One side of her mouth pulled up. “Of course. He also told me I could never be with one again.”

“And you listened?”

She laughed softly. “He can bluster all he wants but he doesn’t get to choose who I’m with. Just because he has an issue with law enforcement, doesn’t mean I do.” She tipped her head. “It’s the reason I took over the support group and previously ran a similar one in Pittsburgh. My father might not respect cops, but I do. Yes, some shitty ones are out there and quite a few racists ones, too, but Mark was one of the good ones. They do exist, even though they normally don’t get the spotlight like the bad apples do.” She shook her head. “And here I am explaining something to a damn cop sitting in my passenger seat that he already knows. Are you a good one or a bad one, Bradley Lennox?”

“I guess it depends on what side of the law you sit. If I’m there to help, you think I’m good. If I’m there to slap cuffs on you, you think I’m bad.”

“You know that’s not what I meant.”

He did. He’d seen good and bad throughout the years. It was on the good ones to out the bad ones, but that was not always easy or possible. “Besides your father, you mentioned two other scary people you know. Who are they?”

“Well, since we discussed our ties to the Dirty Angels, it should be no surprise when I mention their sergeant at arms.”

“Diesel Dougherty.” She was right. That one was no surprise. “And the other?”

“Like I said, less than six degrees separates any of us. So, you might know this man as well since he’s tied to?—”

He cut her off with, “Ryan Mercer.”

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Is that Mercy’s full name? I never heard it mentioned before. If it’s said out loud, does it conjure him up out of the blue?” Her head swiveled back and forth as she glanced around the parking lot. “Should we duck down so we’re not seen?”

She was trying to be humorous, but Diesel’s Shadows were not to be messed with. Local and state law enforcement, as well as the feds, believed that group of former military special operators caused the disappearance of the Shadow Warriors. “Mercy’s little band of mercenaries are aging. They aren’t ghosts anymore.”

Aaliyah leaned closer to him to whisper, “That’s what they want you to think. Don’t let their wrinkles and the scent of Bengay fool you.”

ChapterSeven

“Anyway,”Liyah continued, “aging or not, they aren’t anyone to mess with. It’s better not to get in their crosshairs.”

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